What You Need to Know About The 2018 Kentucky Derby

Saturday May 5th, will be the running of the 144th Kentucky Derby. The 1 1/4 mile track at Churchhill Downs will feature 20 horses vying for the first win of The Triple Crown (a feat accomplished in 2015 by the horse American Pharoah. The 2015 Triple Crown was the first since the horse Affirmed did it in 1978, a 37 year gap. The winner of The Kentucky Derby takes home a $2 million purse.

Coverage of The Kentucky Derby starts 2:30 p.m. on NBC with a post time of 5:46 p.m. central time. The weather forecast shows a 40% chance of showers mainly in the afternoon which could make for quite the muddy track.

The horses in this year's Kentucky Derby are:

(in order of the field)

Firenze Fire

Free Drop Billy

Promises Fulfilled

Flameaway

Audible

Good Magic

Justify

Lone Sailor

Hofburg

My Boy Jack

Bolt d'Oro

Enticed

Bravazo

Mendelssohn

Instilled Regard

Magnum Moon

Solomini

Vino Rosso

Noble Indy

Combatant

Many betters this year are looking at just 2 horses in this field of 20: Justify and Mendelssohn. Riding on Bolt d'Oro is the jockey, Victor Espinoza, a 3-time winner of the Kentucky Derby.

ALSO... the staple of The Kentucky Derby (other than the singing of My Old Kentucky Home) is the drink-of-choice: Mint Julep

3oz. agave syrup burbon
5-6 mint leaves
1 tsp. sugar

1. Place mint leaves in the bottom of the pre-chilled, old-fashioned glass
2. Add sugar and crush
3. Pack glass with cracked ice
4. Pour Kentucky burbon over ice
5. Stick until glass frosts
6. Add more ice and stir again
7. Add sprigs of mint to the ice